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Alexander Stokes

2023 Board of Regents Medal for Excellence in Teaching

Alexander Stokes

Professor Alexander Stokes of Cell and Molecular Biology takes seriously the origins of the doctorate as a license to teach and has explicitly developed practices to create inclusive, rigorous classrooms with each student fully engaged. One method, Problem Based Learning (PBL), values students directing their own learning, developing team-learning skills, and assuming very active roles in their own learning. Based on PBL, Dr. Stokes developed a tool kit for inclusive pedagogy reflecting under-represented, predominantly female, low income, first-generations students that constitute undergraduate classes. In one student’s experience: “Professor Stokes utilizes a cutting-edge hybrid teaching style that unlocks students’ intellectual potential by acting as a conductor of a symphony in a collaborative learning orchestra. I was imbued with a passion and was inspired to further academic pursuits.” A view supported by a colleague: “Alex is that Professor, the one who transports students to a new view of themselves. Stokes is a leader in pedagogical innovation at the interface between biology, biomedicine and date science education in Hawaiʻi.”

“Professor Stokes utilizes a cutting-edge hybrid teaching style that unlocks students’ intellectual potential by acting as a conductor of a symphony in a collaborative learning orchestra. I was imbued with a passion and was inspired to further academic pursuits.”

Student

2023 Faculty Awardees